Nick Buglione

Everybody wants lower taxes, so let’s urbanize

Posted

Everybody is against everything everywhere. That seems to be a common theme in Nassau County.

Where else can you find people so opposed to burdensome property taxes, and yet so reluctant to embrace the sort of commercial development that alleviates them?

Take my friend Erin. She lives in Floral Park, not far from the Elmont border. She hates this time of year. It’s when residents find out how much their mortgages are going up thanks to yet another tax increase.

I hate this time of year, too. I kind of feel bad for the guy from my credit union who has to inform me that my last payment was a little short. It usually goes something like, “I’m really sorry, Mr. Buglione, but everybody’s getting slammed this year.”

Erin hates taxes. I hate them, too. Who likes high taxes? That’s like saying you like root canal or colonoscopies.

But like so many Nassau County residents, Erin is hypersensitive about any kind of development in her neighborhood. She was a vocal opponent of the contentious proposal last year to build a video gaming parlor at Belmont Park, which is within walking distance of her house.

I could better accept why she and her neighbors were against the casino deal if it weren’t for the fact that seemingly every commercial development proposed in Nassau County is met with that kind of opposition.

What’s with the people out here? Why are they so afraid of any kind of change? For heaven’s sake, you can’t build a Taco Bell on Hempstead Turnpike in East Meadow without someone screaming bloody murder.

In the five years I spent reporting local news in Queens and Nassau, I was always amazed at how much stronger the “not in my backyard” mentality seemed out here. Show me the blueprints for a new store, an apartment building or a medical office and I’ll show you scores, if not hundreds, of ticked-off residents.

What’s more, these are the same people who bellyache about sky-high taxes. Even with the state-imposed cap that prevents municipalities and school districts from raising levies more than about 2 percent a year, taxes remain a problem. They’re partly the reason why our young people simply can’t afford to live here.

School districts — which get the vast majority of our taxes — say the blame lies with the state, since funding for education doesn’t keep up with rising costs. The state usually absolves itself by pointing toward record increases in school aid every year.

So what’s the solution? Keep raising property taxes? Or cut teacher salaries, fire administrators and slash school district programs? Pray Albany gives us more money?

I have a novel idea: Let’s embrace expansion. Businesses pay property taxes. More businesses mean lower taxes for residents.

I know it’s sacrilegious to say this, but let’s urbanize. Let’s throw out the zoning codes and start over. Let’s erect more buildings. Let’s put up high-rise apartment towers. Let’s expand mass transit. Let the Metropolitan Transportation Authority bring the F train right to my doorstep, for all I care. No, it wouldn’t solve our tax issues in the short term, but we just might save ourselves in the long run.

If Nassau County were its own city, it would be among the 10 largest in the nation. It’s asinine to expect a municipality of nearly 1.4 million people to never change.

Or let’s keep everything exactly the way it is, but don’t let me hear anyone complain about their taxes again.
 
Former Herald assistant editor Nick Buglione is a freelance journalist and teacher who lives in East Meadow.